Snow removal has been a problem for as long as motorized vehicles have used public roadways for transportation. In response to the task of removing significant quantities of snow away from roadways, driveways and parking lots, many different types of snowplowing arrangements have been invented. Numerous of these snowplows have been configured to remove snow efficiently from a hill or other uneven surface. In addition, many of these snowplows have been built with hydraulics in order to lift the snowplow into and out of engagement with the road surface.
Numerous patents disclose snowplows with one or more pivot axes. U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,906 discloses a snowplow which is capable of rotating about a longitudinally extending axis as well as a transversely extending axis perpendicular to the direction of travel of the vehicle. By fixing the position of the snowplow along these two axes, the snowplow may be moved to a desired position. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,822,751 and 4,821,436 also disclose snowplows which may be mounted to the front of a vehicle and rotated about at least two axes so as to adjust the snowplow blade to a desired position.
Another desirable feature of a snowplow assembly is a jack stand or lift stand capable of supporting the snowplow assembly when not in use. Several patents disclose snowplow assemblies which have lift stands. Applicants' own U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,174, reissued as U.S. Pat. No. Re 35,700, discloses a snowplow assembly having a lift stand which is pivotable about a horizontal axis and may be lifted out of the way when the snowplow assembly is being used to plow snow.
Another patent which discloses a pivotable support stand is U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,884. This patent discloses a lift stand which is rotated to an upward position out of the way when a pair of ball joints at the front of a pair of rods secured to the vehicle are received within funnel-shaped guides extending rearwardly from a snowplow assembly.
Once a mounting apparatus secured to a vehicle is engaged with a snowplow assembly, it is known to utilize a latch mechanism in order to secure the snowplow assembly to the mount at the front of the vehicle. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,031,927 and 3,987,562 disclose such latch mechanisms. However, with each of these latch mechanisms a lever must be activated in order to latch the two devices together.